Mass Effect - Destroyer
by Symbiote423
Summary: A world abandoned. An N7 unit. A race of sentient machines cleansing the galaxy of all that lives and breathes. Their mission: Defend Earth until the fleets return. And bring hope to those who live in the crippled home of humanity. Rated M for graphic violence and suggestive themes coming in later chapters. Disclaimer: I don't own or have any part in the development of Mass Effect
1. No Hope

**DESTROYER**

**CHAPTER 1:** **No Hope**

"Until the fleets return, you are the last line of defense. The Earth is ours! And if they want it they'll have to go through us to get it." - Admiral David Anderson

The shuttle was cramped. Cold. Like a night wind conjured by death himself. it was seclusion. From the chaos just inches away. And that chaos was Earth. A few months ago they came. The Reapers. Arriving from the black reaches of space like demons. They had decimated Earth with sheer force. No tactics. No strategy. Just unrelenting power that most of us could only dream of. People are told Earth fell in a few days. Wrong. It fell in a matter of hours. We lie to give people hope. Hope for a future we may not have anymore.

I gaze around at the team in the shuttle. Four of us. All N7's. Trained to be the best. Trained to succeed where all others fail. Except against these monsters. If someone had to ask me now "How do I beat the Reapers?" I'd respond with "You don't. You keep fighting and they keep coming until you run out of ammo". The warriors I see around me are clad in our trademark black with the red stripe running down their left shoulder.

I look down to the seat in front of me. Kathy sits there, cradling and inspecting her Mantis rifle. I immediately search for my rifle on instinct. I feel out. The Typhoon machine gun is still strapped to my back. I notice the upward gazes of a few of my comrades then back to their own thoughts. One gaze I follow. David. He stands opposite me in the shuttle. He looks to the door like he's prepared to hurl himself out of it. I can't blame him. He'd die on impact. But thats the easy way out. We're not allowed that pleasure. That leads my gaze to Ray. He sits, holding that picture of his wife and kids in his hands like always. When the Reapers came they were on a different continent. he never got word from them. Part of me wants to tell him that war is war and we all lose someone. He'd probably chop me up with that huge sword strapped to his back.

I hear the enigines begin to slow descending into an idle hum. Thats our que. I don't even wait for the pilots good luck. I just pop the door and leap out. The grounds a foot below us. I land with a metal thud. I'm followed by two, much softer footsteps and another metallic clank. I pull the Typhoon off of my back, the weapon hums and clicks as it extends into shape. I check the immediate area. A street. Alliance vehicles everywhere. Desolate and burned. Rubble lines the cross road ahead like a wall around a slaughterhouse. No bodies because the reapers will have taken them already.

I signal to the team, and the shuttle takes off. A moment passes then it's gone. If I was flying that I'd be out of this area too. It's a hell hole. I begin to walk forward as does the team. Ray walks just ahead of me holding a Pirahna shotgun. That thing looks even meaner with the scars he gives it. He rushes into cover behind a divider between the two lanes of traffic. I take up position behind an alliance barricade, probably set up when the Reapers arrived, and turn around. David and Kathy are behind a similar barricade a little way down the street. Kathy moves her head up over the cover like a predator observing prey. I give her the nod.

She ducks back in and David comes out. He walks up next to me taking cover alongside me. Then I look over to Ray. He looks out into the crossroads. He nods. David begins walking toward him. I see him run a little at then end. Desperate to feel the warmth of cover. I hear a small collision between the cover I'm in and Kathy. I notice the collapsed section of a building and see it making a convienent ramp up to higher ground. A vantage point where she can pick off Reapers with her eagle like vision. I gesture in that direction. She understands and goes. Then I whistle to the warriors in front of me. They get the message. They back out of cover. Ray facing forwards, David facing back. Covering every angle with his Vindicator.

I see them disappear up the ramp. I open up my omni-tool and press the first button on the wheel. My visor flashes from blue to red. Devastator mode. I feel safer. My shields shatter, then power up once more. Stronger. My hands lock to the Typhoon. it's not going to leave my grip. I walk up to the cross roads and look out into it. The rubble partially blocking my view causes me to vault the pillars infront of me. I look to my left. A bridge left suprisingly intact except for its front wall being ripped open like something tried to claw it's way in. I already know what did that. Brutes. But in the opening I see the three Soldiers I came here with. Kathy is set up on the bridge, proned and with her bipod deployed. She looks down her sights towards me. Ray and David stand on either side, all of them waiting for something to happen. Waiting for me.

Then we heard it. The metallic screech of a billion souls pleading for death. Coming our way. I turn away from the bridge. The street has collapsed there and in the ditch that is left by it they run. At us. Husks. Humans converted to machines. I hate this part.

"Come and get me!"


	2. Those faces we remember

**Author's Note: Well I'm certainly a very happy writer. I got 2 reviews. I'm flattered and glad you guys are enjoying it. I'll be sure to make the chapters longer and continue to show Earths devastation as this progresses. Who knows where we'll go. Thank you's to lestibur and empty-walls. Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to the Mass Effect franchise. Nor am I associated with** **Bioware or Electronic Arts.**

**CHAPTER 2 - Those faces we remember**

The massive tidal wave of husks began to advance. I hear the Mantis fire behind me. The shot flys over my shoulder like an angry hornet and slams into one of the advancing horde. The mechanical being's head explodes showering the ground with a grey-red liquid that was probably blood before the processing. Those giant mechanical spikes you'd see around occasionally. I remember seeing it happen up close and watching as those people. Men. Women. Children. All being turned into those ... things. Watching their organs, fluids and everything they were being drained out and replaced with mechanical parts. It still sickens me.

Suddenly the Mantis fired again. Another foot soldier went down clutching at it's chest, watching as ooze gushed from the wound. I hear another weapon begin firing. The drumbeat of David's Vindicator. Husks begin staggering in the front row as he precisely targets their heads and chests. About four of the ten he hit went down in one burst as their insides were reclaimed by the home of humanity.

The Mantis fired again. I heard vague chatter behind me. Kathy and David probably trying to start up a score counter. I groan into my visor and pray that one day they'll realise it doesn't matter. In the end we're all just food for the Reapers. Score won't matter then. The husks are almost in range. My turn. I reach for my Omni-tool and press the first button on the arm band section. The glowing hard-light construct begins to power up and three pods arrange themselves on the exterior of the omni-tool. I aim into the middle of the horde and press the second button. The three pods fire off into the husks. Seconds later three explosions happen. Husk body parts go flying.

An arm lands close to my position. The hand still jitters, searching for signals from a brain that isn't there anymore. I stamp on it. The hand stops resembling a hand. It resembles a spider that's been crushed by a desperate arachnophobic.

Suddenly I feel a massive air slam and the sound of dark energy right next to my back. I stumble forward and spin on my heels to notice the potential attacker. Ray. He performed that ridiculous biotic charge on a husk that had been creeping up towards me. Asshole. The idiot could have killed me and it wouldn't have been the first time a husk would've jumped on me. He stands over the thing's corpse that is semi-flattened. I pace briskly up to him and grab his shoulder forcefully. "What the hell was that?"  
"I saved your life incase you didn't notice". He pulls his sword off his back  
"If you had missed..."  
"But I didn't!" He reponds angrily. Twirling his sword.

I back up and notice my body in an offensive position. My face contorts into a look of rage. I'm sure he does the same. We stand off. A sniper shot whistles past inbetween us. We both instantly turn to the source of the invading projectile. Kathy. Of course. She grimaces better than either of us. I imagine that face on her now as her voice drifts over the communicator. "Shut up. Both of you. We were sent here to clear the area and scout ahead. Not have a testosterone fueled argument. Save your anger for the Reapers". We both glare at each other. My armour pulses red as devastator mode continues. Suits my mood. "You look in that building over there. It's not collapsed. See if you can find anything".

He walks off without saying a word. I walk off in the opposite direction, searching through the allaince crates. I should cut Ray some slack. He has a reason to be pissed. He wasn't there to protect his family and he blames himself. He lost three people that first day. His wife, Mellisa, and his two daughters, Becky and Amy. I never knew them but they meant the world too him. Me and Ray have shared a squad since the original attack on the Citadel. He showed us that photo when we first worked together. He told the squad how proud he was of them. And how Becky was a natural biotic. And how Amy was learning to speak Turian at such a young age. I envied him. Now I don't. Now that photo is his only possession that matters in any way to him. He tucks it in his pocket on missions. He clutches it at night. One guy tried to take it off him once. That guy was on the floor and had a broken bone. Ray would have been court martialed. If there was time or a reason.

I divert my thoughts from lost family and focus on searching the crates. Thermal clips. Thermal clips. Spare parts for weapons. Nothing of use. Most of the useful stuff was probably taken already by either people desperate to survive or the Reapers. A sudden jolt through my communicator brings me back to reality. "Got something you guy's will wanna see." David's voice. Followed by a "Copy that" and "Acknowledged". I respond. "On my way".

I'm the last to arrive. The other two are crowded around David. They notice my approach and turn towards me illuminating David's new found weapon of mass destruction. "Check it out." He sweeps his hand across the frame of the weapon. It's sleek and Reaper in design without a doubt. "A blackstar" I respond with concern. "Yeah" he straps the weapon to his back "We get this back and I'm sure someone could study it. Find a weakness or similarity between it and the Reapers."

I glance at Kathy and Ray. Ray nods. Kathy speaks "Its worth a shot. What else do we have so far"  
"Nothing but thermal clips" I toss one at Ray, who catches it with ninja like reflexes. "and bits of gear we've already got. What about you two." Heads shake.

Suddenly a piercing scream radiates through the area like a ghostly wail for revenge. I know that sound. You don't so much hear it as feel it. Feel it reverberate through your chest. No shields or armour can stop that. We spin to face a broken window where the scream originated. It's there, staring back. It's an uneasy feeling as it stares back, eyes boring into our very souls. It clambers over a car with ease and a slow gate. It stares once more. It screams once more. Louder. Biotic energy whips around it with ferocity unseen by any of our biotics. It's hand pulls and a pulsating ball of dark energy appears in it's grip. "MOVE!" Kathy screams.

Kathy cartwheels to the right and David follows her with a forward roll. Ray teleports into thin air to the other side. I stand my ground. The bolt is released. It travels towards me. I raise my arms to my face, blocking the incoming dark energy. It impacts. A strange warping noise is made, like all of reality was distorted in the area. The force it creates is enough to stagger me. It kicks up dust, obscuring my vision. I check my shields. 47% and holding. Thank God for devastator mode. I pull up my omni-tool and press the second button on my wheel. The weapon on my shoulder wirms and clicks like an angry swarm of insects. It hums into life.

The dust clears. I aim. It screams. "Die" I utter with the most chilling tone I can muster as the Cobra missile fires like a starting gun out of my shoulder cannon. It travels straight toward the Banshee. It hits and explodes with enough concussive force to knock any regular person over. Even Krogans don't take usually more than one hit. But no. The banshee is still standing there. It wail's inhumanly at me. Thing is. This isn't a duel.

Right on que a phase diruptor blast of pure biotic force hhits the banshee in the side of the stomach. Not expecting it the banshee staggers and faces it's new attacker. Ray stands pointing his hand, with a glowing light in the centre of his palm, at the reaper monster. It begins to scream at him, but it gets cut short with three more phase disruptor blasts. I see the fluid fly from the creatures mouth. Now it's pissed. It grimaces back at Ray.

He fires his Pirahna shotgun. The range on it was always bad but he distracts the Banshee long enough. Second missile loaded. It fires and hits. This time the Banshee staggers. It screeches at me with enough decibels to wake the dead. I start firing my Typhoon. It spins up slowly but begins to start tearing the banshee to pieces. Then the Banshee is gone. It's a few feet nearer. Then again. Then it's at the window. It towers over me and grabs my rifle.

Oh shit

I am wrenched with the rifle off the floor and flung across the road into a wall. I feel something crack. Not me. The armour. My shields are gone. Ray's firing disruptor blasts at this thing constantly at this point bu the creatures damn barriers starts evolving. Eating up his laser like shots. The thing raises it's clawed hand as it gets close. I stare right back, unable to move in my damaged, heavy armour. It screams once more. Ready to kill. Taunting me like a predator over it's prey.

Suddenly a glowing orange shield crashes into the towering monster. David came through. He tackles the banshee with his Omni-shield. The monster falls as does he. I reach for my weapon and attempt to rise. I hear the Pirahna firing and David's Vindicator. I grab my rifle. I turn and fire on the monster that is firing biotic bolts at the pair. A hail of bullets spouts forth like the flames of an angry dragon. Bits of flesh and machinery fly off the creature like discarded trash. The creature raises it's arms in defense. A cryo blast is let loose. It slows the banshee and freezing it's more weak areas. Kathy de-cloaks behind the banshee. It tries to turn and protect itself. It's face contorts into shock. Kathy's sword slices through the creatures neck. It shatters. It's body slumps to the ground. It's head rolls around on the floor. Liquid begins pouring out of the places where the neck should have been. Blue and purple. The ground is stained as the Earth tries to accept the foreign blood.

Kathy sheathes her sword and David walks over to pick me up. I lean on his shoulder. My armour has a crack in it's back. Fully split open Luckily I'm relatively unscathed except for bruises and a concussion. I feel like throwing up. I look toward Ray. Calling for pick-up.

"This Gamma squad. Hostiles terminated. N7 in need of medical attention. Armour in need of repair. Get us out of here." He turns to me and nods. I nod in return. Mutual agreement once again fills the air. I glance skyward and see the world. Still shrouded in shadow. Our little skirmish has done nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I mentally scowl. My usual mood returns. Just another waste of armour and time.


	3. Broken Armour, Broken Hope

**Author's Note: Another chapter for you readers. It took a while to get up because of the site maintenance which couldn't be helped but still, I apologise. I hope you enjoy this chapter which does coincide with the game a bit. But I may have some continuity issues now that I've done that as I haven't actually played Mass Effect for a while. I know. I'm stupid. But still it's only a bit and it still makes sense in terms of story. Shouldn't take away from entertainment. Also if you review make sure to let me know if you still like the short chapters or if you would prefer longer chapters but longer time in between each. Thanks.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect, nor am I associated with Bioware or Electronic Arts**

**CHAPTER 3: Broken armour. Broken hope**

The trip home, or what passes for home now, is fairly uneventful. Occasioanlly you'll be able to hear the synthetic roar of one of the colossal capital ships. Though Anderson keeps reminding me that it's not just a capital ship but a living Reaper. One time on a particularly bad outing, three of those things just descended from the sky, crashing into the ground looking for us. We were pinned down from wave after wave of Reaper ground forces. Husk's, Cannibal's, Marauder's, Brute's, Banshee's and hell throw a Harvester in for good measure. We took down that one Banshee just now with relative ease. The killing isn't clean when there is aconstant barrage of weapon fire from the ground ahead and fucking titans just start raining from the sky who are screaming out that mechanical roar. We were all clutching out ears in agony. Someone will make a movie where the Reapers are towering over one guy all screaming and he won't bat an eye. And it'll piss me off. I barely made it out of that drop alive. Alin didn't.

I look around at the squad. Particularly at Kathy. I've got no interest in her except as a battlefield partner. Same can't be said for David. She is one of the few people in the world who didm't lose someone to the massacre of machines. Her brother was off world. Her parents were dead. In some ways I envy that. You don't feel death's chilling grasp as family and friends are taken away like pins in a bowling alley. It's almost a metaphor for humanity. The Reapers decimated Earth with one precise strike and are now using more tactical strikes and coordinated ground forces to get rid of the remnants.

I move away from the subject and bring myself back to Kathy. A career military girl even before N7. She reached lieutenant much faster than all others I know. She lept at the chance of being an N7. Best missions, best armour, best weapons and them expecting the best in return. It's a happy story. She doesn't tell it anymore. She reache up to her helmet and releases it away from the rest of her amrour, then pulls it away from her head and rests it in her lap. Her features are a mixture of different sources. Her face has that attractiveness of a young woman and has a scar running down her face from left eye to the left of her chin. Her hair is almost as red as the stripe on her armour. Her skin is pale white, creating a fierce contrast to her armour, black as night. Her brown eyes scan the men around her, finishing with me. I stare back throuh my visor. Her lips twitch, attempting a small smile. The can't quite remember how. So instead they part and let dialogue flow out. "Got something to talk about commander". It flows out, cold as snow. I don't blame her. We're all cold now.  
"Nothing Kathy. Execept wondering how quick my armour can be fixed"  
"You took some serious punishment chief" the voice of David reaches my ears. "You should let the doc take a look at you"  
"I agree. No point going out with a commander who can throw up at any given moment from his damn concussion" chimes Kathy  
"I don't need a doctor unless it's one who'll finish Project Crucible and put an end to all this." Project Crucible. The entire galaxies last hope. Humanities last hope. My last hope. It's out there with Admiral Hackett's fleet. Being built. Once Shepard finishes assembling an army capable of confronting the Reapers we can use it. Should probably mention the greatest human of all time. The way half of the legends are told, he sems like the most capable person in human history since Jesus Christ. I should leave my prejudice for when I finally meet him and judge him for myself. But no single man can do this. It's just not possible.

"You still need a checkup commander" Kathy's voice breaks my thought process.  
"Yeah if not for you then for us"  
"I assure you both that I am of perfectly-"  
"Christopher." Davids voice slicing through the air like monomolecular blade he uses. "See one of the doctors before I throw you out of this damn shuttle." I slump back defeated. my broken armour creaking as I do.  
"Fine" I speak though gritted teeth  
My team nods and returns to their own thoughts. I glare at Ray with enough fury to make a child cry.

I don't like my first name. I hate it. Christopher. It's too long. I mentally speak out my squads names. David. Kathy. Ray. Christopher. Mine's a whole six letters longer. Sure I can shorten it but to me it sounds even worse. So my squad just calls me something else the whole time. I thought about changing my name but it was my mother's idea. I keep it to honour her. I lost my mother a long time ago. I was only three and can barely remember her face. She finally lost a battle with a killer she couldn't fight against. Cancer. It's still a big killer today. We managed to find some stable treatments towards the end of the 21st century but it's jst evolving. Plus most other races have a form of cancer and it doesn't help that humans have little to no resistance to those forms of cancer. Still I guess it could be worse. She could've been a Quarian.

I brush the memories off and my sheer anger at our inability to solve everything. Thats what the Reapers are. Cancer. The turn your race against you, just as cancer turns your body against you. I just hope that the Reapers are more curable.

I should probably note that my opinion on aliens is not a bad one. I hate discrimination. I think it's pointless and if you have that much time on your hands to just get angry because someone is something then you should probably be classed as a fucking idiot. Learn to live in the galaxy we're in. Something Cerberus can't seem to understand. I heard Shepard's fighting Cerberus now. Even though he worked for them. I can see past taht statement and look into the details where everyone else just seems him as a traitor. Maybe they should look at the context. Shepard was investigating the Collectors. Helping humanity. Yet no one else seems to look past Cerberus. Hell I even ended up talking to one of his former crew. Lieutenant Commander Williams. Even she doesn't trust him anymore and there are rumours that the two of them had a relationship. That's probably gone now though. Oh wow. I now sound like I'm the captain of Shepard's fan club. I roll my eyes and sigh heavily drawing everyone's attention. I ignore them and they continue with their own tasks.

I take another quick look around. Not much to do on a shuttle ride home. Kathy is scrubbing the Banshee's blood out of her helmet. It's near pointless as it'll happen again soon. Whether it's a Banshee or her's next time is a 50/50 chance. Ray is siting with his hands clasped in his lap, his head bowed. Probably meditating. Focusing in a way Asari do to focus their biotic energy. My gaze leads me to David. He's watching a video. Not sure which one but it looks like a TV show. Recorded from before the Reapers came. He's shown me a few of those. TV is crap these days. But I don't hassle him. He enjoys it and we should all really have a distraction from life at the moment.

I pull out my Typhoon. It's got a bit beaten up over time. But it still functions. Even being thrown from my grasp can't stop it. It's a brilliant weapon. It's shield to protect my face as I aim the weapon to hit whatever is shooting me with hot metal. All of it's main weaknesses like it's weight and recoil are counteracted by my suit's devastator mode. In short we're a perfect match.

"Alright we're touching down" the pilot speaks out, his voice richocheting through the hull of the craft. Kathy raises her helmet and places it on her head once more. The shuttles engines slow to an idle hum and the craft shudders as we impact the ground. No more noise from the engines. Faint voices are heard on the other side of the door. David helps to lift me, my armour being to heavy withoout power flowing through it. The shuttles door's open.

Chaos floods my vision once more as people dart across the area in front of me. Ray and Kathy are the first to step out. People are turning to notice. David aids me in lifting the suit. I continue to lean on his shoulder. Kathy moves in to take the other one. All around I see people, grunts, officers, civilians, all of their eyes trained on me. Not a good thing I must say. I imagine some of the civilians. It's been a while since the initial invasion and the pain of loved ones has mostly subsided but the shock of losing a homeworld to an unconquerable enemy still has passed. How are they going to feel when an N7 soldier, best of the best, walks past being held up by his team with his armour shattered in places.

The current foxhole we're living in is a real hell hole. England. The south to be precise. Portsmouth I believe the name is. We came here in response to a small resistance in London calling us and saying that the machines are gathering in force there. We moved to be close, against my advice. I still remember the conversation I had with Major Coats and Anderson. Not one of my better days.

"Get the damn civilians off world. If the Reapers are converging on London then we may have an opening to get people out in shuttles." I shouted. "Do you know how often this opportunity comes around. NEVER!"  
"It's an insane idea" the British accented major responds "Do you even know how many Reapers are in the air right now. More than enough to converge on London and control the planet's off world traffic"  
"Then send up a shuttle with no one. Remote pilot. See if it gets shot down."  
"Waste of a shuttle"  
My hands curl into fists and the red mist begins to descend.

"Enough. Save the aggression for the Reapers." Anderson. The peacemaker.  
"Sir, surely you see some sense here. Going where the Reapers are is suicide for all of the civilians and us"  
"I do. But the Alliance still needs intel. Hacket and Shepard will need to coordiante the strike on them and if something big is going on in London we need to be there."  
"But sir-"  
"No. This is my call. I just got off the communicator with Shepard. I told him something big is happening in London. We need to be there"  
Coats walks from the room. I stand in silent rage for several seconds. I finally give in a raise my hand to my head and salute the figure leading the resistance. I do so because he is the face of this resistance and if he gets into an argument with me the civilians will begin question what should be the right choice. It's always better to give them no choice and one solution. Or they bicker. Complain.  
"Yes sir"  
"At ease" he replies in his usual calm but inspiring voice, then quietly "Listen. I do see your points and it's a good one. We should get civilians off world but we need to move to London and fast. If we evacuate then the Reapers will know our position."  
I nod in response "I understand"  
He begins to walk away "Good. Oh and Commander" I look back towards Anderson. He stops and stands. "Ready Gamma squad."

I stand there. Defeated. I feel like a fool. No of course it wouldn't have worked. A private would've know better than your idea. Stupid.

My reminising is cut. The doctor has just finsihed checking me over. He gives me the all clear and says to return to him if there's any more problems or complications. He's a nice guy the Doc. His real name is Derek. But everyone calls him Doc. I mean everyone. Even his sister calls him Doc which doesn't help.

I walk out of the "surgery" which is little more than a tent set up in the underground facility. I don't know a lot about this place. I know these underground bunkers and tunnels were used in world war two. Back when setting a guy on fire was done with gasoline and a lighter, and not fired from the hardlight construct on your wrist. You know "The good old days". To be honest I don't know which one is worse. But I see being doused in flammable liquid as far more ... repulsive. I don't like it when people look to the past. Everyone complains while your in the moment and as soon as things are even mildly worse the past is suddenly a beacon of hope for all the moths who are attracted to the light it creates.

My armour is off. An unusual thing for me. My armour stays on almost all the time except when I take off either my helmet, or the piece around my groin when I need to take a piss. My body feels light without it. Like I could float away and be free of all this pain. Sarcasm. My favourite form of humour. My skin is pale white, more so than Kathy. David is just as white as me. Ray is African-American and so the changes being in the armour makes, are less visable. I could blend into an Arctic wildreness if I was left there. My brown hair is messy and I refuse to tame it. I only did it for Alin and I just get helmet hair whenever I wear my helmet, which is all the time. I must look a mess to everyone who sees me but to be honest I could care less about what they think. I'm my own human being and they can all go stick it if they want to call me out in the middle of a war zone.

I decide the next thing to do since I have no current orders would be to check on my armour and squad. All around as I walk there are people. I wish they didn't have to be here. They all look terrified as if they know we are just squirming in vain. Everything is broken here. Broken hope, broken dreams, broken wills, broken armour.


	4. Melissa

**Authors Note: I apologise to all the readers for this chapter being so abysmally late. Someone decided now was a good time to play Mass Effect again and now I'm hooked. I have also had a quite a bit of coursework to try and finish so it's not all just me drooling at my favourite game. Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter. Tried to make it sad but you'll have to decide. Also if anyone could inform me about either longer chapters or keeping them as they are that would be helpful. **

**Disclaimer: I still own none of the rights to Mass effect or have any part in the development of the masterpiece. Nor am I associated with Bioware or EA**

**CHAPTER 4: Mellissa**

I pace briskly to the location where our armour is kept between missions. Generally the regular marines keep their armour on almost all the time. As do I and Gamma squad but obviously it needs to come off whenever it needs repairs. Also they keep so many spare sets of armour here you could outfit an entire battalion. It's shocking how quickly the giant war machine called the Reapers consumes the supply. So many lives lost and all because the galaxy couldn't listen to sane advice and at least prepare.

I approach the armourer. "My suit's status?" I ask skipping pleasantries.  
"Short or long answer Commander?"  
"Short"  
"It's pretty fucked" my face falls. "We can eventually fix it but for at least a week or two you're going in a regular suit like the rest of them"

I grunt a noise of disapproval and exit, not even wanting to hear anything else he has to say. I love that suit. Custom built for N7 Destroyers. And I overrode most of the safety protocols like 'Not allowing the missile launcher and devastator mode to be active at the same time because it messes with the shielding'. Granted it does reduce shields by 25 and in some cases 50 percent. But there has only been few cases where it actually caused the shields to fail. So a safety protocol had to be put in to stop us from doing it. I just got David to take it out.

I raise my head and begin striding through the large underground safe house to get back to my bunk. Ordinarily N7's would have gotten separate, better accommodation but we can't afford that right now. N7's are trained to be the best as I've said before but it all depends on what you as an N7 that defines your role. Shepard's an N7 and some people have speculated that he is an N7 Destroyer just like me. He isn't. You have to work at it and specialise for at least an extra year just to gain the honour of one of the titles that N7 can grant. For instance David is a Sentinel and get's access to an Omni-Shield, something front line sentinels don't have. Sentinel being the slang term for a biotic and technologically skilled person who serves in the armed forces. Kathy is an Shadow with access to extremely high tech stuff and that ridiculous sword. Honestly who uses a sword these days against and enemy who can hit you from orbit if you're particularly unlucky. Not that I'd ever say that to her. She loves that sword as much as Ray loves his picture. Ray is a Slayer, and N7 with an extreme focus in close combat. Some of the biotic stuff like his phase disruptor and teleporting ability is unseen by some people. It's all very secret and not official. Most races have a biotic unit capable of teleportation, like the Turian Cabals, but they're always off record like the entire galaxy is ashamed of people who can teleport through thin air.

I return to my bunk in a tent to give us some privacy from other people. It's to help people attain some semblance of normal life I guess. I share my tent with Gamma and two other N7 units. None of us have conversations anymore because of a minor incident involving another team taking Ray's picture. They did it as a joke to liven the mood. David didn't see it that way. I swear when he couldn't find it and the other teams engineer stood on the other side of the room and said "We hid it somewhere" with a grin on her oh so punchable face, he leapt halfway across a room faster than I think he could've teleported. He beat that girl up bad. She had bruises for a month. Then some guy tried to pull him off. It didn't work and he turned on that guy, he threw the guy on the ground and bent his leg the wrong way. That guy still hasn't recovered and his days of N7 are over. Ray apologised but they still loathe him. He loathes them so I suppose it's all even.

My locker swings open with an audible hiss. Luckily we got some fancy gear. Lockers. Yeah I know. Those things that were in schools until the Reapers invaded. That is what classes as fancy on Earth now. I search through my belongings. There isn't a lot. A couple of medals I can't be bothered to wear at anytime because medals are pointless, a picture of my family. My hand touches the fabric and the cold metal. I pull it out. A mask, with big, round, grey eyes stares back at me. Those eyes were once full of light. No longer. It comes attached to a hood. The hood of an N7 Fury. Alin's hood. I keep it for me. One of my small tokens to never give up. Like Ray and his photo.

As if on queue Ray walks into the tent and parks on his bed. He pulls the photo from one of the sealed pockets in his armour. His brown eyes stare into the picture like examining it through a microscope. I place Alin's hood back in my locker and walk over to him and lean of the pole supporting the bunk. "You stare at that any longer and you're gonna burn through it" I say attempting humour. We could use some since there is no alcohol here.  
"Could say the same thing about you" he responds, his face not even attempting to contort into the shape of a smile. "Her hood is gonna fall apart if you keep holding it so tight."  
My mind tells me to smile. I don't. You don't smile. Not here. Not anymore. I place myself next to him on the lower bunk where he sits. I open my hand, asking for the photo. The slightest thought of his beloved memories being taken from him causes him to grip it tighter. You can see the picture contort around the base of his thumb. In the end in lets relinquishes possession of the photo and passes it to me. I look into his families grins. And his. I almost forgot what his smile looked like. It occurs to me at this moment that although he often talked of how proud he was of his family I never actually knew much about them on a personal level. What they liked or disliked. I point to Mellissa. "What was she like?"  
You see his eyes briefly light at memories of her, then return to their dull outlook. "She was brilliant. Loyal to her friends. Caring. Charismatic. If she saw one person in a room she was in with even the slightest look on their faces of displeasure she swooped in to help."  
I thought about that briefly and saw the irony but refused to mention it out of respect. "What did she like?"  
"She loved fiction. Anything really. She loved real books instead of datapads and she passed that on to Becky and Amy. We always went to see these movies. Comedies mostly. Anything that didn't really make sense she liked." He replies, his mind toying with the idea of a small smirk. He beats it into submission with the flat of his sword.  
"If you could go back in time and tell her one thing before the apocalypse, what would you say?" I ask, attempting to gain perspective. He thinks for a few, long seconds. He rolls over several lines in his head, I can tell. Perhaps "I'm sorry I wasn't there" or "Goodbye".  
He responds slowly "Run Mellisa. Run as fast as you can." You can tell the physical hurt it places on him as his face buries into his hands and his voice cracks at the end of the statement.

He raises his head and I can see him fighting back emotions with his mental sword. I return the photo and place an arm around his back. "She'd be proud of you. You don't ever give up yet the massacre continues. If there is a heaven and she's up there watching you I just know she is telling you to fight until the end" I think briefly before speaking my final line "Because there is still a future to fight for."

Ray thinks it over. He replies slowly once more. "Thanks". I pat him on the back and we both stand. He stretches his hand out in between us. I take the hand shake it. "I need to go and do something productive. Take my mind off of this." I nod and he walks from the tent.

My face grimaces. Everything I just told him to keep him going was a complete and utter lie in my eyes. I see no future. For any of us. We're all as good as dead. One by one we will perish at the hands of the Reapers. Eventually there will be one left. And he'll stand before Harbinger and realise "There was no future. Just and endless cycle of war and death."

My thoughts glance to the gigantic Reaper rumoured to be leading the assault on Earth. Anderson told us he was the biggest and oldest Reaper in space. Been there since the beginning. Been taking lives since the beginning. The Reapers are synthetic so someone created them. Whoever they are. I wish they were alive today so I could stomp on them and tell them what a fuck up they made. And how trillions are dying now because of them. The sheer body count over the ages must be colossal. Unending. I want to watch them squirm as they see the massive count of the dead and attempt to justify their train of thought. Then shoot them just for the hell of it. Not justice. Not because of the body count. For the sheer stupidity they must've had.

One day death will come for us all. And I hope as they rot in hell, they get to watch a body count that just keeps increasing. With every cycle. With every death.


	5. From The Heavens

**Authors Note: Well once again I apologise for the late chapter. Again! My reasons: Finishing up all my school coursework ready for my week break, which luckily is now, and I've had a bit of a writers block. But hopefully we'll get back to the frequent chapters. In the next chapter I'll probably do some more referencing to the game.**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own mass effect or have any part in it's development. I am not associated with Bioware or EA.**

**CHAPTER 5: From the Heavens**

The current of my thoughts flows on and my legs are carried within it. I begin striding to the location of Kathy and David. They always go to the same place. Just a corner of the room, nothing special. They say it "Allows them to both lean on a wall and face each other without hurting you neck." It might be a bit lazy to someone but to be honest when you leave your armour on pretty much 24/7 I'd say you earn the right to be lazy. Plus trying to turn you head with the helmet on is extremly tricky.

I enter the part of the compound where they like to stand and look around. It's a holding area for the civilians. They sit. If they had any tears left they would shed them. Some people are just waiting for it to be all over. Some are hugging each other. Military husbands lying through their teeth to their wives about how "We are gonna win. We've always won before" and their wives just pray that it's true. There are even kids here. Kids! The youngest being six. That little guy lost his parents on the day it all began and had to run from the reapers for a full three days before someone found him in Vancouver.

I scan the room with my expertly trained vision but it's not hard to spot Kathy and David standing in their corner as always. They stand slightly closer than would be advisable in these situations. I've told them it's a bad idea. Romance. It gets in the way but the two idiots seem to perpetuate the flirting anyway. I just pray they stop before it goes too far. Then we will all be in trouble. I make a beeline through the crowds straight for them. If nothing else to put them in their places like a father concerned about who his teenage daughter is dating at this point. As I walk through the bubble of conversation that houses the civilians I hear things like "We should've been prepared" ,"Will we make it" ,"I wish it would end" ,"Is Shepard really going to fix this". No matter what happens Shepard is a legend here even though he is very much alive and well. A soldier fighting this war like anyone else. It irritates me that they don't pay more attention to what goes on around them. But I understand. Who wants to live in this world anymore anyway. They'd much prefer a world where there is an all powerful movie-protaganis-like God walking around up there who is solving all the problems. Maybe I'm being cynical as the Commander aparently cured the Genophage weapon used on the Krogan.

I pace briskly up to my squad through the cold, damp air of the compound. As I get closer I hear them talking. "Archangel."  
"Archangel isn't a myth. He was a guy on Omega dispatching vigilante justice."  
"My sources say there were a bunch of good samaritans on Omega acting under the moniker Archangel as once there is a symbol to fight under, you believe that will protect you if you do the right thing"  
"You two having fun?" I say without cracking a smile. Funily enough they are smiling. It's been a long time since I've witnessed that particular facial gesture this close.  
"We are just discussing urban myths." David replies. His helmet is off as is Kathy's. His hair is dirty blonde and messier than mine. His eyes are hazel. It's an interesting combination.  
"And you think Archangel is an urban myth?" I ask  
"See the commander agrees with me." David scowls briefly  
"Just because you both think the same thing doesn't mean Archangel isn't an Urban myth Kathy."  
"Shelf this discussion for later." I say to both of them "I need to talk to you. My armour is screwed and is gonna need an overhaul. I'll have it within aa week or two but until then I'm in regular gear."

They stare back in slight suprise and annoyance. Not at me but at the fact it's broken. We work in a specific pattern. I take the front with Ray as we can fight extremely well in close combat, while David provides tech bursts from a mid range engagement. That leaves Kathy at long range with her sniper rifle. With me no longer to take extreme amounts of punishment and lacking a missile launcher it means I have to be put back at medium range. The last time that happened Ray almost got killed by a Brute as he had no one watching his back. Luckily I made it in just in time.  
"Alright we'll bare that in mind and start thinking of a new plan" Kathy says  
"Thanks for letting us know. It would've sucked to discover that later while going out to fight"  
I look at the two of them. What they mean is "Get lost commander. We were having a moment" I nod at them both and take my leave. They instantly begin talking again about stuff that doesn't matter and it pisses me off. They should be thinking about military tactics as they said they would. Not whether Archangel was real or not. I want to kick something really hard. but I have to leave the room for fear of kicking a small child.

Some may think I'm being overly annoyed by the fact that my armour is gone. To be honest I'm perfectly justified. Compared to my armour the alliance default armour crumbles like paper. The kinetic barriers are half my suit's and it has none of the functions that my suit has. No devastator mode. No missile launcher. No Omni-Wave stomp. Instead I have to use frag grenades and a concussive shot launcher. I scowl at the thought. My missile launcher disintegrates lesser enemies like husks. The CS launcher just knocks them over.

I turn at the entrance to the room and spy Kathy and David getting ever closer. I shoot a disapproving glare at them. Then a thought that says "You're just jealous because Alin's not here" I mentally beat the thought into submission and grit my teeth. I hate this world.

Suddenly an alarm sounds. I know that alarm. We have is for emergency evacuation and I've listened to that so many times in every other location to know that this one is the other. The high-pitched wail of the alarm is quickly cut short but Major Coat's voice. "Everyone disable your omni-tools and be quiet." he commands with his british voice." The next part of his sentance comes after everyone has switched their omni-tools off. "Reaper inbound." His words drop off at the end as if he knows the chances of us living through this are miniscule. Reapers only investigate if we run around an area too long or they have a fix on our base. This place is one of the best yet and so I stand still, hoping it is simply patrolling the outskirts of London. Well the outskirts of London to them is pretty much the British Isles. I imagine it. The massive squid like creature descending from the heavens to finish us all.

Suddenly there is a massive thud. The compound shakes. Dust falls from the ceiling. Holy shit. That fucker is on top off us. The titan is standing on top of our base. Then it screams. That sythetic piercing scream. It enters the compound and ricochets off every wall. Men, women and children clutch their ears in agony. I do the same. I see civilians looking worriedly at the ceiling, looking down at the floor hoping it's all a horrible nightmare. Kathy and David have their hands over their ears and are scowling in shock at the roof. There are more thuds. The reapers walks around the ruins above. Stamping over people homes. Businesses. Creating huge areas of open space. Bad for us as it means we can't be stealthy and make hit and run tactics on Reaper forces. It must've seen our shuttle and tracked it before we went into stealth mode and plotted out our destination. But that's never happened before. My mind thinks at one thousand miles per hour trying to figure out where we went wrong. How did it track us. It's a bit confused obviously but it's not long before it realises we're underground.

It hits me like a ton of bricks. The Blackstar we salvaged. The big-ass reaper cannon as the grunts like to call it. They must've tracked that here. I realise no one else knows this. I turn to everyone else then turn down the hall and start sprinting. This is now a race. Will I make it to the lab before the Reaper finds out where we are. I pray the ground is interfering with the tracking process. Everyone else in the tunnels stares in bemusement at me. We were told to stay still. I run through the command part of the bunker. Coat's and Anderson stare at me with that "What the hell are you doing!" glare. I jsut run faster than I've ever run. I slam into the side of our lab and kick the door open. The scientist beigns with a "What are you-". I see the weapon on the bench. I grab it and start up my Omni-tool I select the tool used for cutting open doors and cut through the guns outer coating, leaving it's insides exposed. I slash through everything with my omni-blade. The insides of the weapon now fray out. Was I in time. Was I fast enough.

The thuds continue and a second screech pours down the concrete hallways. No of course you weren't. You're never fast enough. Not fast enough to save Alin. Not fast enough to save these people. Not fast enough-

My rant is cut short. The thudding stops. There is another shake. Dust pours from the ceiling once more. It takes a few slow minutes. Then Coat's british accent fills the air. "State of emergency is now over. Proceed as normal." I push the largest breath out I'v ever had. The lab does the same and so does virtually everyone. I know I have to explain my disobeying of orders so I run back to the command room.

When I arrive everyone is back at work. Carrying data. Re-engaging bits of technology. Coat's strides over to me with a face as dark as a thundercloud. "What in thehell were you thinking!"  
"The reaper was using the stolen Blackstar weapon to track us. I realised this and ran to disable it." I reply without punching him in rage.  
Anderson appears "Good fast thinking. Without it we'd have lost this facility."  
"Thank you sir." I repond lettig a small amount of pride taint my voice.  
"Alright I'll return to my duties then" the major says. He salutes Anderson and leaves.  
"You two really need to sort out your differences." Anderson speaks with a small smile.  
"I doubt it'll happen sir."  
"Alright. Well thank you on behalf of everyone here" He salutes me and walks back to a terminal and talks to another high ranking military official.

I walk out with a spring in my step. I saved everyone here. My actions. ME! A smile begins to creep it's way onto my lips. Then I knock it down. You brought the wepaon here in the first place. Of course it was you who disabled it. I stare at the floor. I feel defeated. Like never before. My blood runs cold once more. I raise my head and stride back to my bunk. I lay myself down on it and look straight up. I feel guilty crush my pride. Any good feelings I had have just been crushed by war.


	6. Good News

**Authors Note: This chapter is where I'm going to start linking the story with ME3. Apologies once again for the wait. I've been a little low on inspiration. If you've got any for the ride over to London mention it. Anyway, cheers**

**Disclaimer: Do I even need to say it. I still don't own any rights.**

**CHAPTER 6: Good News**

I woke up about an hour or two later. Damn nightmares. And the fact that sleep hours are kicked out of you one at a time during N7 training. We're meant to operate for days at a time with no sleep needed. I rub my eyes, ridding them of all of the visions left from my dream and swing my legs over the bed. I look out into the base that never sleeps. People still darting left and right, carrying data, weapons, ammo and all manner of things required for fighting a war.

I stood up, extending and stretching my legs, then my arms and torso. That's my warm up for the day. Back in the "good old days" I would've had an hour on a good day to exercise and wake up properly. Weight lifting. Push-ups. Sit-ups. A short run with Alin and Ray. That would be me set for a full two days of missions. Of course now there isn't time for that. Making a routine fails horribly as the Reapers are always there. You have to be on call at a moments notice. A never ending cycle of mission after mission all for what. To keep soaking the soil with Reaper blood. Even though in the end it won't matter. If we are good soldiers we won't be around to reap the rewards.

I take a quick glance at the bunk above mine. Kathy. She looks conflicted even in her sleep. There are only two kinds of people you find in these dark tunnels beneath Portsmouth. One is the kind that have fallen into the abyss, surrounded by darkness and a never ending desire for revenge, redemption or even death to just come a pluck them from the face of the Earth and bring them to the cold grasp of oblivion. The other are the people who are upon the tightrope that hangs dangerously over the bottomless pit that I described previously. Kathy is gripping on to it desperately. Pulling herself back up over and over again. David is balancing. For now. Me and Ray are long gone from that rope pushed off the side by the shockwaves created by the sudden repulsion at our lives.

I move my gaze from Kathy and scan the room, like every time I wake up. I look at the holographic clock on the wall of our room. 2:43am. It doesn't feel that early. Maybe thats because the amount of dust the Reapers kicked up by destroying everything has pretty much blotted out the sun in this part of the world. It's extremely cold and I salute anyone going onto the surface without a helmet at midnight. The last guy who did that got the flu. Which didn't help our situation. He had to be quarantined immediately as did his squad. Otherwise we'd have all gotten it. Luckily it didn't spread and it was treated. It's amazing that the flu has survived this long. Along with cancer. Despite all our advanced medical tech it still refuses to put it's grim head back into the sand.

I divert my thoughts from the topic that will inevitably lead to my mother and her death at the hands of cancer. I turn to the end of the rows of bunks and see the engineer that messed with Ray's picture. She's flipping her helmet in the air and catching it over and over again. Her blonde hair falls to one side of her head, her blue eyes fixated on the task at hand. Her name is Maria. To be honest she's a bit of an asshole. Excluding what she did to Ray. Her heart is in the right place. She's a good marine. Good soldier. Good N7. But people person she is not. I guess we have something in common. My mind thinks about making contact and attempting to break the ice between Gamma squad and Delta squad, but I believe she'd just wave me off.

Suddenly her eyes aren't on her helmet. They're on me. She stares.I stare her down, giving her my best pissed off face. One of her eyebrows raises and she looks at me with the look that says "What on Earth is your face doing?". She smirks knowing my mental processes. I just shake my head. And turn away. Suddenly she laughs. It's small. Quiet. But the first true laugh I've heard in months. I turn back and stride across the room. I lean against the wall and speak "Something funny soldier?"  
She laughs again "Yeah. You. And the way you try to look scary" she replies with a grin  
My mind is being infected with happiness. I still don't smile. It'll be a cold day in hell before I smile. I remember how cold London is outside. Son of a bitch.  
"You okay?" she asks politely, with a hint of something in her voice.  
"I'm good as I get these days. You?" I return.  
"Shit. As usual" she says looking down "My grenade pylon's damaged and it needs to get fixed. Again" she places her head in her hands. I remember my armour. Gotta check on it. See the progress.  
"Sorry to cut this wonderful conversation short" I say, coating my voice in sarcasm "But I have to check something. See you some other time"  
"It's fine." she waves the sarcasm off. I begin walking from our squad's designated area. But Maria calls out as I reach the door "Tell your Slayer friend. We didn't mean to hurt him as bad as we did." She says it with genuine sincerity. I nod in acknowledgement.

I step out into the tunnels and begin walking around. A pleasant suprise. I didn't expect her to apologise. Then again I expect everyone to die at some point so I guess I'm just a pessimist.

I stride purposefully towards the armoury and step inside. My armour is in the back, being worked on. I see the sparks, hear the welding. The whirring noise as an omnitool spurs into the life to slap some omni-gel on it, presumably to fix something non-metal. I enter in a brief discussion with the alliance guy at the front of what could be a store, the way it si set up, and ask how long they've been working. He tells me it's been around a couple of hours. retty much since I brought it in. I see a snapped grenade pylon next to my armour on a bench being worked on by another technician. If we had any bars, I'd buy them a round.

I walk to the armour rack and select one of the blue camo-patterned armours and place it over my frame. The pieces are light. Compared to my armour it feels like it would break. I snap the gauntlets on last and move my hands, chekcing the range of motion. I haven't been in one of these suits in a while. I look down to my chest and see the alliance symbol sitting there on my armour. I brush it with my hand removing any dust over it. I grab a helmet from the rack on my way out and place it over my deshevelled hair, pulling it on till it covers my head. My helmet has more space.

The blue heads up display flickers into life as I begin to jog to the command portion of the bunker. It brings up my kinetic barriers bar and my quad read out. Obviously no one on it as I'll have to sync this suit up with Kathy, Ray and David.

I take a moment to look at the personell around me all walking back and forth. It looks like something big might be going down. People are carrying equipment, crates and guns. A whole Company goes striding past me on a jog. Uniform. Like I am now. Something big is going down.

My mind decides to stop it's wondering and figure out what the hell is happening. Another company walks past. Then another. I begin speeding up toward the command centre. I open the door and I am met with a flurry of movement. People passing datapads, typing on terminals. It's a flood of efficiancy not seen anywhere else in this compound. I look for Anderson. West side of the room. He's typing on a datapad. I call out "Admiral!"  
He turns his head and speaks smoothly yet deep like always "Commander. something I can help you with?"  
"Yeah I've been asleep for the last few hours. Whats happening."  
"We're packing up. Most of our fighting force here is moving to London with the other half."  
"What. Why?" I question.  
"Do you remember the fall of Thessia?" Of course, how could I forget. Shepard lost to Cerberus. The Asari had some data on planet they needed to give to us to finish the Crucible and Shepard lost it.  
"Yes sir." I respond plainly.  
"We found Cerberus headquarters. Hackett and a segment of the fleet laid seige. Shepard went in and got the data for the Crucible. Hackett's technicians are laying on the finishing touches. Meanwhile, the fleets are mobilising."  
"Which ones?" I ask troubled as to how many fleets humanity has left  
"I mean the galaxy. The Turians, Asari, Krogan, Salarians, Quarians, hell every fleet is mobilising from what I hear." My eyes widen in suprise. Holy shit. Shepard actually pulled it off.

I think for a few moments"Thats.. brilliant" I say, finding no other appropriate words.  
"About an hour ago we got a massive power spike in London. It resembles the Conduit on the Citadel. I recieved word from Hackett soon after. The Citadel has been moved here by the Reapers so that they can protect it." I tilt my head in bewilderment at the huge torrent of data I'm recieving. "The Citadel is the final component to the Crucible."  
"Wow. I never thought that..." I think "The fleets are mobilising to come through the mass relay all guns blazing and get the Crucible in position."  
"You've got it. Our job now is to get in London and secure a foothold so that the ground forces can land. I fill you in on the plan more once we get there. All I can say now. Ready Gamma squad." And he's gone.

Holy shit. We may have a chance. Hearing all this. We may have a fucking chance. A smirk creeps onto my lips for the first time in months. Better get on with it then. I tap the side of my helmet and find the Gamma squad channel. "Already guys, gear up. We're going to London."


End file.
